1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fire-resistant material. Particularly, the invention relates a fire-resistant polyurethane material and a fire-resistant polyurethane structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Polyurethane materials are a type of widely used polymeric materials. Polyurethane products can be found in almost all aspects of daily life; especially foamed polyurethanes are an important type of materials. Because foamed polyurethanes can be foamed in a mould, articles of desired shapes, for example, connection boards, decor sheets and decorative pieces that are commonly found in building decoration, can be produced, and are used to replace time-consuming, labor-intensive, expensive and heavy stone or wood materials. Therefore, foamed polyurethanes have been main materials in current in-door decoration.
However, when being used as decorating materials, these foamed polyurethane materials face a great challenge in fire resistance and fire fighting. The polyurethane materials do not have fire-resistant properties, so when contacting a fire source, the polyurethane materials would be quickly burnt and melted, resulting in expansion of the fire hazard. Therefore, it is an important topic in this field to improve foamed polyurethane materials and impart the foamed polyurethane materials with fire-resistant properties.
Currently, a method for improving the fire-resistant properties of the foamed polyurethane materials is to add a sufficient amount of a fire-resistant powder to the polyurethane materials. The fire-resistant powder includes, for example, aluminum hydroxide; a nitrogen-based fire-resistant component such as melamine, which releases nitrogen and ammonia gas when being heated, so as to reduce the concentration of a combustible gas; a phosphorus-based fire-resistant component such as ammonium polyphosphate, which produces metaphosphoric acid when being heated, so as to dehydrate organic substances; and a carbon-based fire-resistant component such as pentaerythritol. Although addition of these components can significantly improve the fire-resistant properties of foamed polyurethane materials, the foamability of the polyurethane materials is greatly reduced. Furthermore, the polyurethane materials cannot fully fill all corners in a cavity of a foaming mould, and fine features on the surface cannot be obtained. In addition, due to the addition of the fire-resistant components, the total weight of the foamed polyurethane materials is increased, which is not beneficial to use in indoor decoration.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to set forth a fire-resistant polyurethane material and a fire-resistant structure having the foamability of a foamed polyurethane material and improved weight, so as to meet development requirements in the various fields of application.